


“Duchess of Wyre: Dishonour, Wrath and Lust.”

by EfrainJorge



Category: 18th Century CE RPF
Genre: 18th Century, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Tragedy, Arranged Marriage, British period drama, Drama & Romance, England (Country), Erotica, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, First Time, Georgian Period, Literature, Loss of Virginity, Love, Love/Hate, Making Love, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Married Couple, Married Life, Murder, Nobility, Novel, Novelette, Older Man/Younger Woman, Romance, Romance Novel, Secrets, Sex, Soulmates, Tragedy, True Love, Vaginal Sex, Virginity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-03-31 14:34:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EfrainJorge/pseuds/EfrainJorge
Summary: A terrible tragedy destroyed the life of a rich and powerful English nobleman, plunging him into a life of pain, remorse and resentment, hiding dark secrets. More than a decade later the life of another important noble family is threatened by the stigma of dishonour. The destinies of two aristocrats, a very young woman and an older man than her, will intersect in a dangerous vortex of intense passions, mixed feelings and secrets of the past.





	1. Tragedies of the Yesterday and Embarrassments of Today.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One tragic night, his life was destroyed and was condemned him to hell ... a party was the beginning of the perdition of a young girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Vicbourne fans, read this story as if it were a past life of our favourite couple, in a previous incarnation. For those who are not fans of Vicbourne, read the story as an absolutely novel romantic novel, set in the England of the Georgian era.

The horses ran almost wildly under the thick curtain of rainwater, in the midst of that storm almost as terrible as the biblical deluge that the parish priest often spoke of in his sermons. That horrible stormy night that was just beginning, dark as the omens it brought with it, with a darkness barely interrupted by the lightning flash, was the perfect representation of that apocalyptic deluge with which the pastor intended to scare his parishioners to follow the mandates of God according to the interpretation of the Church of England.  
The four steeds made their way through the water and the wind, and the cold that entered the bones of the riders. Those men would be shivering with cold if it were not because the energetic physical exercise of the crazed cavalcade and the mixed feelings that nested in their breasts did not warm them despite the freezing wind and rain.  
In that frantic and reckless race, almost suicidal, in which they ran on swampy and slippery terrain, avoiding the natural obstacles of a path that went through a forest, these men pursued their objective as a predator hungry for their prey. And at the head of them was he, the man who led them driven by hatred and especially by fear, because he feared to lose what he loved most in the world ...  
That man and his companions could well serve as inspiration for another sermon of the pastor, for they seemed the embodiment of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Although now, lashed by the raging tempest, and running the risk of their horses slipping or tripping and they could fall and break their necks, they were like castaways struggling not to drown and reach the coast. But their leader would not give up, and those who followed him would not abandon him, two of them out of loyalty to their master and another out of affection or love.  
The leader, the man who commanded, had under his coat and his cloak, two pistols ready to be used when his pursuit began, although now it was very likely that the gunpowder was wet and useless. But he also wore a sword and a dagger, and his companions were also armed.  
The man had his eyes pinned to the front looking anxiously to see the object of his concern and the captors who had snatched it from his side. When he thought of them, his hatred grew louder and he felt the desire tear them apart with his own hands.  
One of the horses almost slipped and its rider had to make an effort not to lose his balance and fall, and then to force the steed to run again, to try to catch up with the other riders who had left him behind.  
A scream was heard ... it was a warning scream from one of the men it addressed to the leader, who just in time noticed that there was a branch crossed on the path, but instead of stopping he spurred his horse and the magnificent animal jumped above the branch. The man who followed him out of devotion born of love imitated his example, but the other men had to stop when their horses were clearly frightened and reluctant to jump. The leader's friend shouted at them, without stopping, to go around the path through the grove and join them later.  
Then the man shouted at the leader, at his friend, to be careful, but his scream was drowned out by the thunderous noise of thunder. When they advanced a little more, another lightning bolt fell not far from them, fulminating at a tree. The horses whinnied in fright and tried to stop, but the men whipped and spurred them and did not allow them to stop.  
The man in front felt the rainwater mingling with the moisture of his tears, and his heart oppressed in his chest, with pain and fear drowning him. I should not lose him, I should not ...  
And then he saw them ... they were a distant image, but he knew it was them, he would have known even if they had been as far away as that Moon almost hidden by the dark clouds lit intermittently by the flashes of lightning.  
He spurred the horse further and saw the river running through the forest, and he heard the loud, almost deafening noise of the water that ran raging in the flood of the river. And when he reached the shore he felt terror seize his body and his soul ...  
The river had grown too much and apparently too soon, and a cart had been stuck in the water, far enough from the shore where the terrified man was staring at the scene, and closer to the opposite shore, but not near enough…  
A man was standing next to the horse pulling the cart, and struggling desperately to reassure the animal and try to pull on the cart, which was dangerously tilted to the side. On the cart was a young woman covered with a cloak and a hood, who screamed and cried hysterically, while hugging against her chest a little boy that clung scared to her and that also shouted and cried ...  
The man who led the group of riders and who was now scared to death tried to force his horse into the river, but the animal resisted crazily and finally got up on its two hind legs and threw its rider, who fell on the muddy ground, and then the steed fled in the direction of the forest they had left behind. The man's faithful friend arrived on his own horse and got off on the run, and threw himself on his knees to help the one lying on the ground. Soon the fallen man sat up stunned in the arms of his friend, and after a few moments reacted and stood up. And then he started screaming ...  
"Joseph ... Joseph!" the desperate man shouted.  
The three figures in the cart turned to see the man, and the boy began to scream something that the noise of the furious current of the river and the storm drowned it and made almost inaudible, but still, the man and his friend managed to hear ...  
"Papa, papa!" the boy shouted hysterically.  
He tried to jump into the water when he heard his son's scream, but his friend grabbed him and they both struggled. At that moment the other two riders arrived and got off their horses, and helped to hold the crazed man so that he would not endanger his own life trying to save his son.  
Seeing them, the man who was fighting with the horse beside the cart drew a gesture on his face that was a mixture of fear, anger and hatred. And then he raised his riding whip and lashed the horse, in a desperate and absurd attempt to force it to pull hard and pull the cart out of its quagmire. But the beast twisted and shook violently, trying to break free of its bonds, the man who was whipping it and the water that threatened to drag it, knocking down the man who fell into the water. The horse pulled so violently that it caused the cart lean more on the side to which it was already leaning, and the torrential force of the water did the rest. The vehicle rose violently and overturned, throwing the woman and child into the raging water ...  
The boy's father stirred on the opposite bank and tried to get into the river, but the other three men fought him and threw him on the muddy ground, to avoid it.  
"William ... you can not do it! ... It would be suicide!" his friend yelled desperately as he struggled to hold him down.  
"Let go of me ... let me go!" the father of the child cried.  
Meanwhile, in the whirlwind of violent waters, three people fought to save themselves. The man who had dealt with the horse that pulled the cart struggled to reach the woman and child who had been dragged by the water to the deepest and most abundant part of the river, where the waters were more wild and violent. The mother and her son waved their arms energetically, the boy trying to cling to his mother. But the woman was too terrified and felt that her body was sinking, with her heavy and cumbersome clothes making it easy to submerge her, without her clumsy attempts to stay afloat served as something, while her son clinging to her neck made it more difficult. ... Their companion came to them just in time for to pull the woman with a hand before she completely submerged, while with difficulty he tried to stay afloat with his other arm when a blow of water dragged them to the three ...  
On the other shore the four men who had come riding stopped struggling and stand up, and they ran along the shore to see where the water dragged the three people ...  
"Get back to the horses and bring ropes!" the friend of the boy's father shouted at another of the men, who immediately complied with his orders.  
The men, under the heavy rain, watched as the whirlwind of water dragged the three of them. The woman's companion managed to cling with one arm to an enormous branch fallen on the river and with the hand of his other arm, he held an arm of the woman to prevent the current from dragging her. In turn, the woman held her son's hand, but the child was being dragged as if there were a giant in the water, an ogre that pulled him by the feet ...  
"Do not let him go!" the child's father shouted from the shore as he ran desperately towards the point where the tragedy was happening.  
But at that moment the flood of water brought with it a pile of forest debris that it had ripped away, and a piece of branch struck the arm of the woman with whom she was holding the child and violently separated mother and son. A horrible scream of terror came from the child's throat, which those present would never forget in the years they would have to live ...  
"No!" the father of the child shouted, while his companions had to hold him back.  
The child's mother also shouted, while her companion held her to keep her afloat. The child disappeared swallowed by the water quickly, and it was as if he had evaporated in the air. There was no trace of him, his life extinguished in the turbulent waters ...  
The father of the child cried and screamed, howled like a wounded animal, or like a wild beast that had seen its whelps killed by another predator. Lying on the ground, on his knees, in the incessant rain, he had seen the person he loved most in life die, and suddenly his life had collapsed, it had stopped making sense. His body trembling, his vision blurred, and that feeling of unreality that suffers people who have just suffered a shocking, traumatic event ...  
Sunk, destroyed, he heard the screams that came from the water. His wife, the mother of his son, the one responsible for the death of the child along with her lover, that man with whom she was now in the water, the other 'murderer' ... he turned to see them with a look full of hatred and pain, and he did not stop seeing them while the man took the woman to the opposite shore. And a new reason to live seized him, a reason that would lead him to descend to hell, that would corrupt his soul, and condemn him to live without peace or consolation ...

_11 years later, in 1770, in a place near Poulton, in Amounderness Hundred, Lancashire, North West England ..._  
William woke again abruptly, once again the nightmare had returned to torment him. The stormy night in which his son died, the night his life ended ...  
He needed a couple of minutes to calm down, to become aware of his surroundings and remember that he was in his bed, in his bedroom. He raised his head and saw that some rays of light filtered into the bedroom, through the crack between the heavy drapes that covered the window of the room. The heavy burgundy-coloured curtains were not in their best condition and looked somewhat deteriorated over the years, and were also covered with some dust as if cleaning was a neglected task in that part of the residence.  
William looked around the bedroom and saw an empty bottle lying on the floor, on the carpet, in a corner. There were two more bottles on a table, one empty and the other less than half. There were also leftovers of food in two plates next to the bottles.  
On a chair, on the dresser furniture and on the floor there were clothes in disarray, mixed and thrown carelessly, clothes of him and others that were not ...  
Looking at another corner, in which there was a huge mirror, he saw his own reflection, on the enormous four-poster bed. He was naked, just like the two women who were still sleeping next to him.  
He saw them without any emotion, in particular, two very young girls, one was 17 years old and the other 19, although they looked even younger. Both of them with white skin, the one who was more old with blond and straight hair, the youngest with curly and dark hair. The youngest had big breasts, the more old one not so much, and William observed the large aureoles and the delicious nipples of the 17-year-old girl's breasts, those breasts that had been in her mouth and on her hands last night.  
The youngest one slept on her side, in a fetal position, and the older one slept hugging her in a spoon position, and William thought that maybe they used to sleep like that together. He looked down to see the thick bush of dark pubic hair on the crotch of the brunette girl, and he could not help but have an erection. Then he turned to see the faces of the two sleeping girls, so angelic, so childish and thought that anyone seeing them like that would not imagine that they were prostitutes, accustomed to giving pleasure to all kinds of men in every conceivable way, satisfying desires more perverse ...  
The images of the nightmare returned to his mind and he felt again the tiredness and the sad bitterness that had accompanied him day after day when he woke up during all those years ...  
Slowly he stood up, careful not to wake the girls up, not so much out of consideration for them but out of a desire to be a few minutes alone. He walked naked toward the window, and with one hand he moved the curtains a little to see outside. He was a tall man, 6 feet tall, and of more or less athletic build, with strong arms and legs, almost flat belly, and hard pecs. His skin was white, but with that tonality that sometimes made it look slightly tanned. His hair was dark brown, with some grey, and it was half curly, and his eyes were green. His face was attractive and very manly and looked about 40 years old.  
As he looked through the window, he once again thought with the irony of how beautiful the sight of his lands was for anyone but him.  
With a sigh, he took the half-empty bottle from the table and raised it to his lips, and he took a sip of whiskey, feeling the taste of the liquor mixed with the aftertaste of the breath of his mouth without washing yet. He felt a slight headache and feared it would be worse later for the hangover, but that did not stop him from having another good drink from the bottle.  
"Your Grace ... what you do awake?" asked the blonde girl, who had woken up and watched him from the bed with a flirtatious and malicious smile, while her brunette companion stretched like a cat, stretching her arms.  
William turned around and stared at them, shamelessly showing his genitals in front. The blonde girl saw with malice the large and thick cock of his client, now half at rest, but soon began to rise in a glorious erection ...  
"I would have liked to continue sleeping, but I had a dream ... with wild horses, and I woke up. I hope I did not wake you two up, I tried to be silent," answered William kindly, but not excessively affectionate, maintaining some emotional distance.  
"No, do not worry, Your Grace ... on the contrary, I am delighted to see that you are awake ... very awake," replied the blonde seeing with effrontery the naked crotch of William, "Actually, what I wanted to say is that ... what do you up instead of being here in bed with us?" she added.  
"I say the same, Your Grace ... why do not you come to play a little more with us?" said the other girl, the brunette, with a seductive smile and a malicious gesture on her face.  
William smiled with mocking irony and some trace of sadness, and leaving the bottle on the table, walked towards the bed.  
"It is my duty to please the ladies," said William in a hoarse voice, not without desire.  
He went to bed and kissed the brunette on the lips, then the blonde, and then they made him lie on his back, while they both slept on top of him and began the preliminary games for a new session of sex.  
A few days later in a country house north of the city of Salisbury, in the South West of England ...  
The arrival of carriages had been incessant throughout the day, transporting the guests of the Marquess of Tidworth. Carriages loaded with trunks with the luggage of the aristocrats and their families, who did not want to deprive themselves of anything during their stay in the residence of their illustrious Amphitryon. The lackeys rushed to help the guests and their respective servants to settle, and the activity was frenetic in the kitchens and in the rest of the dependencies of the servants.  
The mansion was built of brick with painted stone cladding and had a slate roof. The façade had a central triangular pediment set against a hipped roof with dormers and a sweep of steps leading to a carved stone door-case. The huge house had wings on the sides of the central body, with rows of painted sash windows and stone quoins emphasizing corners.  
The first reception of those days of festivities in the house of the Marquess was, as always, an occasion for the hosts and their guests to show off their wealth. Women dressed in their flashy and elegant dresses, each wearing her respective corset with whales, her bodice with a wide neckline, and flared skirt. And the men dressed also elegantly, with pants that reached just below the knee, vests and coats.  
At the reception, there were several beautiful women, mostly married. One of the most beautiful of the few young and single women was the daughter of the hosts, the Marquess and his wife. It was a girl of short stature, just 5'2 feet tall, more or less thin, but with a beautiful body, a beautiful silhouette. With her bodice and generous neckline, she sported breasts that were quite big for her height and relative thinness. The young woman had white skin, the hair straight and dark brown, which was long to the shoulders but which she now was furled in an elegant compound hairstyle. Her face was sweet, smiling and childish, with beautiful dimples, giving her an appearance of being younger than she actually was (the girl appeared to be a teenager). Her brown eyes were beautiful and expressive. The dress she wore was dark blue and highlighted her skin very well, and her face.  
The girl was walking happily for the party in which she welcomed her father's guests to the hunting and party days that would last for more than a week. She talked enthusiastically with the guests and especially with the women. In a moment of the night, the girl approached her parents, when they were talking with a gentleman.  
The Marquess was a 70-year-old man, a very old age for the men of his era, although in his case he looked relatively well for his age. His hair was completely grey, and his face was fierce, though his features were obviously attractive in his now distant youth. His body had been very strong but now he had a slightly prominent belly. It was more or less tall.  
His wife, the Marchioness, was a woman a little over ten years younger than her husband, but she also looked good for her age. She was much shorter than her husband, even a little shorter than her daughter (it was obvious to meet both of them from where the daughter had taken her height), and she was slightly chubby, although it was noticeable that her figure had been pretty when she was young, and she had big breasts like her daughter's. Her face was also similar to her daughter's, beautiful and sweet, although showing the signs of her age.  
"Come on daughter, I want to introduce you to Mr Peter Pemberton, a banker from Salisbury ... Mr Pemberton, I introduce you my daughter Jane," said the Marquess in a friendly way, but with his usual firm voice.  
"It's a pleasure, Mr Pemberton," said Jane with a charming smile and the elegant gesture of a lady when she was introduced to a gentleman.  
"The pleasure is mine, Lady Jane. Your father told me you were very beautiful, and now I think he fell short ... You have inherited the beauty of your mother," said Mr Pemberton bending to kiss the back of Jane's hand.  
"You are very flattering, Mr Pemberton," Jane replied in the kind manner with which she had been taught to receive compliments.  
"I say the same, you flatter me, but I think my Jane is more beautiful than I was at her age," said Jane's mother, the Marchioness.  
"Nonsense, mother! Surely you were a very beautiful woman, you still are," said Jane with a polite giggle.  
"I think they both are, my ladies," said Mr Pemberton, a man about the age of the Marquess, fatter and rosy-cheeked in his face of a good-natured man.  
The conversation between the four ran on banalities until approached them a young man, about 30 years old, tall and more or less athletic, with light brown hair and blue eyes. The man was quite handsome. Jane could not help but see him with great interest when he approached.  
"Marquess, Marchioness, Lady Jane ... allow me to introduce you to my nephew Thomas Northrop," said Mr Pemberton.  
Thomas greeted the Marquess and the Marchioness with courtesy, and when it was Jane's turn he saw her with an intense gaze of ill-concealed desire, which disturbed Jane whose heart quickened.  
"It's a pleasure, Lady Jane," Thomas said gallantly and with a charming smile, as he bent to kiss the back of Jane's hand, still looking at her with that intense, hypnotic gaze.  
Jane's whole body trembled, and she knew she had a problem ...  
Later those involved, especially Jane, would remember that moment when everything went wrong and how events developed very rapidly in those dizzying days. With mastery, Thomas Northrop devoted himself to seducing Lady Jane Roach, looking for every opportunity to be alone with her, and whisper sweet and flattering words in her ear. The innocent adolescent felt in love for the first time and believed that this would be the great love spoken of in the romantic novels that she liked to read.  
In the middle of one of the picnics that were organized to celebrate the days of hunting, Thomas was observing in the distance to Jane, who was talking with other young women, and every time that their glances crossed, Jane smiled enchanted and blushed, while he smiled with malice and saw her with lasciviousness, like a wolf to his prey. Thomas did not realize that his uncle approached him.  
"It seems you cannot stop seeing Lady Jane, right?" Mr Pemberton said in a stern voice and an ironic gesture on his face.  
"Really? I had not realized, it must be your imagination, uncle," Thomas replied uncomfortably and with annoyance, and he turned his gaze away from Jane, but not daring to see his uncle.  
"No, unfortunately, it's not my imagination, Thomas ... I'll be old but I'm not stupid, Thomas and I hate when someone thinks I am. Stay away from the Marquess's daughter," said Mr Pemberton more serious, with an intimidating look.  
"I repeat that they are only your imaginations, now if you do allow me, uncle," Thomas said annoyed and tried to leave, but Pemberton grabbed him by the arm.  
"Don't you dare leave me with the word in my mouth!" Mr Pemberton exclaimed furiously and raising his voice, but seeing that other guests who were nearby turned to see them, lowered the tone of the voice and released his nephew, but saw him with anger, "I've had enough of your stupid things, you are no longer a child ... if I have given you a chance to straighten out your life it is only because you are my sister's son and I promised her to take care of you. But my patience has a limit and a misguided sheep can exhaust patience the most patient of the shepherds ... what happens with you? ... is not it enough the daughters of poor peasants and the maids who you have seduced, the women who cheat their husbands with you or the whores you pay with my money? ... You must also try to steal the virtue of a maiden from an honourable family, an innocent girl!" Pemberton added indignantly.  
"I'm not to blame if she wants to give it to me," Thomas answered softly and cynically.  
"You're a…!" Pemberton said furiously holding his nephew by the arm while he clenched the fist of his free hand as if he wanted to hit him, "You are unworthy of the mother you had! Listen to me, scoundrel, because I'm going to tell you very seriously ... I intend to do a great business with the Marquess, a business that can help my bank a lot, and if everything goes well that will also help me open the doors of other friends aristocrats of the Marquess ... but if you offend the honor of this House that has so generously opened its doors to us, if you manage to offend the Marquess, not only will I lose that opportunity, but also the enmity of such a powerful man in the region as him, it can close many doors me and take me to ruin ... and if that happens I swear by the memory of your mother, my dear sister, that I will turn my back on you and never again in life will you have a penny of me or any help, even if I see you asking alms in the street ... I would never have brought you if I had known that the Marquess had a daughter so beautiful you were going to fix on and because in my stupidity I wanted to believe in your promises of having rectified your conduct ... but if you touch a hair of the girl, if you dishonor her, you and me will have finished, and I do not care if the Marquess does not know, even if only I know it ... so hide well that misery between your legs and wait for us to get out of here so you can run to the nearest brothel to vent. I'll be watching you more closely, and I do not want to see you too close to Lady Jenna ... Is that clear?" Pemberton added in a threatening tone.  
"I do not need to be threatened by you, uncle!," said Thomas, energetically pushing his arm away from his uncle's hand, "I know very well what I owe you, and I will not disappoint you ... I swear to you for my mother that I will get away from Lady Jane," he added seriously.  
"I hope so!" exclaimed Mr Pemberton.  
Of course, Thomas did not fulfil his promise ... Time later, that day, he managed to take Jane to a hidden corner of the mansion and there he kissed her passionately. He whispered sweet, romantic words in her ear, the kind of words often found in romantic novels that young naive and dreamy women like Lady Jane read, the kind of rehearsed discourse Thomas used with his most innocent preys. Listening to him Jane thought she was in one of those novels and really believed it was true when Thomas swore sincere and eternal love when he swore to her that in his life he had never felt such a violent and sudden passion for a woman, that it was pure love at first sight. The man knew how to flatter the girl's self-esteem, how to make her feel special, and that's how he led her to the path of perdition ...  
"Oh, my love ... my sweet girl ... how I love you!" said the scoundrel while he kept kissing her on the neck and on the lips.  
"I love you too, Thomas! ... You must talk to my father to ask for my hand!" Jane replied enthusiastically.  
"I would like to do it, my beloved ... but your father will never accept to give your hand in marriage to an honest man but without money like me ... without a fortune, your father will see me as someone unworthy for his daughter, even as a probable fortune hunter, a scoundrel," Thomas lied cynically.  
"But if your uncle talks with my father, I think ..." Jane said anxiously.  
"My uncle will not ... I'm ashamed to have to say it, but my uncle is not the good man that looks ... He has been very hard and unfair to me, he has never loved me and has only taken care of me for a debt of honour with my deceased parents, but in return, he has forced me to work as a slave for him ... but he hates me, he sees me as a hindrance," Thomas replied in a false tone of apologetic.  
"Oh, my love ... poor you! ... But if we both talk to my father ..." Jane answered.  
"No, from what I've heard your father is quite hard and very rigid ... is not it?" said Thomas.  
Jane answered affirmatively and then tears ran down her cheeks, for she became sad like the maidens starring her novels when the obstacles stood between her and her beloved. She ducked her head, but Thomas put a finger under her chin and lifted her head.  
"But all is not lost ... our love can still triumph, but you must trust me ... will you?" Thomas asked.  
"Of course!" Jane exclaimed recovering the joy.  
"Then you must wait for me tonight ... I will visit you in your bedroom," Thomas said softly.  
"In my bedroom!" exclaimed Jane horrified and scandalized.  
"Yes, but do not worry about, my love ... I know it is not the right thing to do, it is not appropriate, but you must believe me, my intentions are honest ... I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but for that we must take risks, we must do things that otherwise we would not do, if there were not so many enemies of our love," said Thomas with apparent seriousness and sincerity, although inside, he wanted mock of the silly naivety of girl.  
While Thomas continued to convince Jane with his deceitful and hypocritical speech, in another part of the property a newcomer to the meeting of those days was in front of the Marquess. It was the eldest son and heir of the Marquess (and older brother of Jane) Henry, a man quite physically similar to his father, but obviously in a young version. He was 40 years old well taken, he was relatively tall and stocky, with a pleasant and manly face.  
"I'm sorry I joined the celebration late, father ... but the ship was delayed a couple of days in arriving, respect to the predicted thing, and I had to supervise the disembarkation with delay, and later the ways were impassable," Henry excused himself seriously.  
"Don't worry, son ... have you seen your wife?" replied the Marquess more or less kind to his son.  
"Yes, I already greeted her, and my mother too ... have you seen little Jane?" Henry said, relaxing the voice at the end.  
"Over there she must walk ... you know that your sister is like a puppy, especially at a party, running from one corner to another," replied the Marquess in a mocking tone.  
But Henry's attention was diverted to the face of a servant, a thin young man smiling at him, and Henry also smiled faintly ...  
A while later Henry was talking animatedly with his favourite sister, Jane.  
"I see you very happy my little squirrel!" Henry said cheerful, with a broad smile.  
"I do not know my dear brother! Maybe I'll have happy news for the family soon," Jane replied with a charming smile.  
"Really? Do not tell me someone wants to ask for your hand in marriage!" scoffed Henry mockingly.  
Jane blushed and ducked her head with a nervous little giggle.  
"It must be a joke! Who is the suitor?" Henry asked incredulously and anxiously.  
"Do not hurry, Henry! When ... when it's something definitive you'll be the first to know," said Jane, laughing and nervous.  
"For him to marry my little squirrel he will need my approval! Must be someone good enough to be worthy of my sister," said Henry smiling, but speaking seriously and with a certain warning tone.  
"Don't be overprotective Henry! In any case, when I get married, I want to be as happy in my marriage as you have been in yours," Jane replied happily, looking affectionately at her older brother.  
"Yes, of course," Henry answered with a hint of sadness on his face and something else ... shame.  
From a distance, Thomas saw Jane talking to his brother, both laughing, and as he looked at Jane with a lustful gaze, he smiled wickedly.  
The hours passed and the time came when everyone retired to their respective bedrooms to sleep, and not long after Thomas walked with a candle lamp in one hand the long corridors in the direction of one wing of the house to the other, searching Jane's bedroom, following the instructions she had given him, after many pleas, promises and sweet words from him. The man walked slowly, cautiously, trying not to make noise, and sharpening his eyes to detect anyone who crossed his path and could see him. He was dressed only in a nightshirt and a house robe, over his shirt, closed with a tie tied at the waist, and slippers.  
When Thomas was approaching Jane's bedroom door, he thought he heard a noise and turned to see where it came from. He stood still for a moment, trying to see or hear something, but after convincing himself that there was no one else in the corridor, he resumed his walk and at last put his hand on the door handle and entered Jane's bedroom.  
But Thomas had not really been wrong, there was someone who had observed him. It was the young servant who had smiled at Henry when he greeted his father.  
The young man also walked through the corridors with a lamp and was almost going to pass by, when he glanced at another person, a silhouette illuminated by the light of a candle in the darkness. He quickly hid behind a corner that connected to another hallway and quietly spied on Thomas. And so he watched as the man scrutinized the corridor looking for other people, and as after ascertaining that he was apparently alone, he walked a few more steps and entered Jane's bedroom. The young man made a gesture of surprise and scandal on his face, which almost immediately became a gesture of concern, frowning, and then he hurried to walk quickly, almost running, in the direction of another bedroom ...  
Inside the bedroom, Jane was dressed in a nightgown and a robe over it, and she was barefoot. Having reluctantly consented to Thomas's desire to visit her in her bedroom at night, something that was absolutely indecent according to the education they had given her and the norms of society, she expected very nervously, frightened and repentant.  
She had many doubts, and she was asking herself if she was doing the right thing if her sudden passion for Thomas was blinding her. Her conscience was screaming at her that she was doing something infamous, mean, indecent, and her brain told her that she was also committing stupidity, that she was looking for her own ruin. But then she remembered the handsome face of Thomas, how handsome he was, and the words he had told her, the kisses and caresses he had given her, and she felt again the illusion of the love, of first love, and of a hot in her body that she could not identify.  
But still, she doubted, she was afraid of what might happen that night, and especially of the consequences, and feared her father's anger. Suddenly the idea of risking everything for a lover and even running away with him (if that were the case) did not seem so romantic and idealistic. She even felt the desire to run away from her bedroom, to take refuge in her mother's bedroom with some excuse, or to hide in some corner and then ask Thomas for forgiveness, surely he would understand because he was so sweet. But she did not decide to do it and then the door opened and Jane jumped in fright, while her heart accelerated.  
At first, Thomas dissipated her fears and doubts, behaving loving and sweet, seducing her with his words and caresses. Jane was once again seduced, in love, even though Thomas's breath smelled a lot like alcohol, but she supposed it was normal for all the gentlemen after all her own father overindulged with drinking sometimes. But soon he became more impatient and demanding, given the girl's reluctance and doubts, and forced her to lie down in bed ...  
Meanwhile, the young servant came to a bedroom and after checking that no one saw him, opened the door and entered.  
Inside was Henry, Jane's brother, wearing pants and a shirt that he wore with sleeves rolled up and chest open. He was having a drink when he heard the servant open the door and turned to see him.  
"You are late, I thought you were not coming," Henry said with a smile as he approached the servant.  
"Henry, a man has entered your sister's bedroom," said the anguished young man.  
"What!" Henry exclaimed and a gesture of anger and concern covered his face.  
"I just saw him when I was walking to here ... I think it's that presumptuous and unbearable man ... the banker's nephew, of Mr Pemberton," the nervous young man replied.  
"Damn bastard!" Henry exclaimed furiously, pushing the servant away, and he went out into the corridor as if he were a hurricane of pure rage.  
In her bedroom, Jane was having a hard time ...  
Thomas had made her take off her robe, and now she was lying on the bed on her back, dressed only in her long nightgown. He had taken off his own robe and had only his nightshirt. Thomas grabbed Jane's nightgown for curbstone and tried to pull it up to reveal Jane's intimacy in her crotch.  
"No, Thomas ... please! ... I do not want to! We must wait," said Jane, anguished, embarrassed, with tears in her eyes.  
"Stay calm my love! You'll like it ... at first, it's going to hurt, but then you'll like it," said Thomas with an obscene laugh.  
"No, please, stop!" Jane begged.  
But brusquely Thomas get up her nightgown, leaving naked the crotch of Jane. She instinctively closed her legs, but he with his hands and his superior strength forced her to open them, and he watched with lust Jane's vagina covered with a thick bush of black pubic hair.  
"What a delight! ... How I'm going to enjoy breaking it! ... How good will to see mine inside!" exclaimed morbid Thomas, as he pulled up his own nightshirt to show his erect cock.  
"No! ..." Jane exclaimed, frightened to see for the first time in her life a cock of an adult man and also erect, and seeing her most intimate part exposed, "Please, Thomas ... I do not want! ... Go away!"  
"Stupid girl ... now you can not regret it! ... Do you think you're going to leave me hot without satisfying me? ... Stay still or I'll do you more harm than necessary!" Thomas said threateningly, speaking as a different man, one wicked and cruel.  
"No ... help!" Jane shouted, but Thomas covered to her the mouth with one hand.  
"Shut up, you damn fool! ... Keep your screams for when I make you bleed like a sow!" Thomas exclaimed with anger and sadism, and while he kept covering the mouth of Jane with one hand he introduced one of the fingers of the other hand inside her, making her open her eyes a lot and utter a choked scream by the hand of Thomas ...  
Thomas was settling in the right position to penetrate Jane, but at that moment the door slammed open and Henry stormed into the bedroom ...  
Before Thomas could react, Henry punched him brutally in the face and threw him out of Jane's bed with the impact, knocking him to the ground. Henry turned around and saw Jane briefly, her nightgown up revealing her naked crotch and crying in shock, saw how she saw him and dropped her nightgown with modesty, and saw the pain and shame in the innocent and sweet eyes of his little sister, and he felt that he lost his reason ...  
In a fit of rage he kicked Thomas' head as he tried to get up, and when the man fell back to the ground, he stomped two hard on his face. Then he straddled him and began to beat him brutally in the face with his fist clenched, breaking his nose and mouth, making him bleed (in that Thomas was not wrong, in the end, someone bled like a pig). Henry kept hitting him like a madman as if possessed by a wicked spirit, and the other man was knocked unconscious, but Henry did not stop and kept hitting him.  
The servant who was with Henry came running into the bedroom and tried to hold him by the shoulders.  
"Enough, Henry! ... You're going to kill him!" exclaimed the desperate young man.  
But in response, Henry gave a brutal jostle with the elbow that broke the servant's mouth and threw him on his back. Henry kept hitting Thomas and the frightened servant staggered to his feet and ran for help.  
Jane screamed and cried hysterically, begging her brother to stop. In front the scandal and shouting, many guests had already awakened and began to leave their respective bedrooms in sleep clothes. The young servant returned running with two other young servants, and between the three they grabbed Henry and with great effort pulled him away from Thomas, who was lying on the ground unconscious.  
In anguish, Jane saw several guests begin to swirl in front of her bedroom door, and her heart nearly burst out of her mouth when her father appeared at the door ...  
"What the hell is happening here!" the Marquess shouted worried and furious.  
A few minutes later there was a strong argument in the presence of the guests, in the hallway in front of the bedroom door, while the Marchioness hugged her daughter and comforted her while caressing her, the mother and daughter cried. Henry's wife surrounded her mother-in-law and sister-in-law with her arms, and she also cried.  
Thomas, who had already regained consciousness, was standing with his face full of blood and bruises, while two servants held him by the arms, as for him not to escape. Henry was in front of him, clenching his fists with anger and with the murderous look fixed on him, while the servant who had warned him remained at his side prepared to hold him. The Marquess shouted angrily and gesticulated with his cane, and Thomas's uncle, Mr Pemberton, stood as pale as a dead man, he alternating looks of fear and shame directed at the Marquess, compassion directed at Jane and anger directed at his nephew.  
"How dare you damn bastard! ... Try to force my daughter, in my own house!" exclaimed the threatening and angry Marquess.  
"I was not going to force her! ... She invited me to her bedroom!" replied Thomas, scared and humiliated.  
Henry tried to throw himself at him but the servant and a guest held him down, and the Marquess tried to hit him with his cane but two guests held him back.  
"If I am guilty of something is to have courted her! ... You can accuse me of seducing her but not of trying to force her!" Thomas exclaimed.  
"Damn liar! ... My daughter would never do something like that! She is a decent lady," the Marquis shouted.  
"All these days we have been talking all the time, every time we had an opportunity we talked alone and she accepted my courtship with pleasure ... With so many guests here many people must have realized ... ask and you will see that several people will corroborate what I say," said Thomas a little challenging  
There were murmurs among those present, and some women whispered with malicious glances about Jane. Henry turned around and caught sight of his sister's face, and what he saw did not like it.  
"Be ashamed! ... You try to defame my daughter!" the Marquess shouted but with less conviction after having also seen the face of his daughter.  
"In these days she even gave me an embroidered handkerchief with her initials with a small note ... if they take me to my bedroom I can show them where I kept it," said Thomas with vehemence as if he were defending himself in front a court of justice.  
"Shut up, Thomas! ... You've done enough damage!" exclaimed Mr Pemberton, embarrassed and with his voice broken by emotion, almost on the verge of crying.  
The Marquess turned to see Jane with an inquisitive and intimidating look.  
"Jane?" the Marquess asked in a voice full of tension and threat.  
"Father, maybe we should continue this discussion in private," Henry whispered, watching the guests around him.  
"The final evidence is how I got to her bedroom ... in this big house, unknown to me, how did I find her bedroom at night if she did not tell me how to get there?" claimed Thomas.  
The murmurs increased and now the Marquess saw his daughter with growing anger.  
"Jane?" said the Marquess with a hard look.  
"Father," Henry begged.  
Jane was shaking like a scared fawn, without that her mother's loving arms on her shoulders mitigating the fear and embarrassment she felt.  
"Papa ... forgive me, I thought ..." Jane began to say ...  
But she could not continue because her father brutally slapped her and fell to the ground in the arms of her mother and sister-in-law, while her brother held her father. A trickle of blood flowed from Jane's broken lips, and the girl lost consciousness by nervous tension.  
A while later Mr Pemberton was in front of the Marquess and Henry in the library of the mansion.  
"Once again I beg your pardon, my Lord ...if dying I could repair this offence, I would do it with pleasure," said Mr Pemberton visibly moved and ashamed.  
"Lamentably your death cannot repair anything, in reality, there is nothing that can repair it ... or is it that you going to offer a marriage with the scoundrel of your nephew to try to repair this unforgivable offence?" the Marquess exclaimed furiously.  
"Although if that could repair a small part of the damage caused, and even if I was not convinced that the worst damage your daughter could suffer is to marry my nephew's depraved scoundrel ... I'm afraid that in any case, is not possible ... Because my nephew is already married," said Pemberton almost ready to cry.  
The Marquess recoiled in shock and Henry went ahead scandalized.  
"What!" Henry exclaimed furiously.  
"Several years ago, when he was much younger ... he seduced a poor innocent girl, the daughter of a doctor in his small hometown, and as a result, she was with child. The doctor was a prestigious man and an old friend of our family, so the families negotiated and forced my nephew to marry the girl, although it was necessary for the doctor to contribute a generous amount of money as a dowry to convince him ... But unfortunately, Thomas has not behaved well with his wife and son, in fact already long since he separated from her ... and I am the one who takes charge of financially helping the girl and the boy ... But, they continue married, too although that does not matter to him," said Mr Pemberton.  
"And that scoundrel talked to her about love and promised marriage to my sister while he was already married to another woman! ... I'm going to challenge him to a duel" Henry exclaimed with hate.  
"It is in your right, sir, and if he died it would be divine justice ... But I think that only worsen the scandal and therefore the shame for your family ... There is nothing to make a scandal last longer in the memory of society than a duel, especially if it has a fatal outcome ... But I guarantee that Thomas's infamy will not go unpunished ... from now on he will lack any support from me, he will not see a penny more of my money and I will expel him from my family. And since he is useless I am sure that he will die of hunger ... to be reduced to the absolute poverty and with the doors of high society closed for him, will be the greatest punishment for that scoundrel," said Mr Pemberton.  
"What about you, Mr Pemberton? Do you think that your action of having put that scoundrel in my house does not deserve punishment?" the furious Marquess replied.  
"My Lord, if you want to punish me by destroying me, ruining my business, I will understand perfectly ... I am also the father of two daughters and would want revenge if they hurt them ... Again I express my request for forgiveness, and as I suppose you do not want me one minute more in your house I have already ordered to pack my things and those of Thomas's scoundrel, and I will leave immediately ... With your permission."  
Mr Pemberton retired and when he reunited with his nephew a few minutes later he gave him a strong slap.  
"You have died for me! ... You will leave my house and you never again will step it ... I do not want any contact with you, nor by letter and you forget about my money because I will not give you a damn penny ... From now on you will have to earn you live alone and I do not care if you sleep in a dirty alley or under a bridge ... You have brought eternal shame to your own family and to this House that welcomed us with open arms ... Damn you for the rest of your life!" Mr Pemberton shouted and spat on the ground with contempt.  
Thomas cried and pleaded, but his uncle turned his back and left.


	2. Salvation in the hands of the Eldest Brother.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane faces her father's anger, while the disgrace of social stigma falls on the family and Henry looks for a desperate way to save his sister.

The next day the guests left hastily, saying goodbye with compassion (hypocrite in many cases) of the old Marquess and carrying with them the gossip that would spread across all the aristocratic salons of England that would ruin the reputation of a noble and prestigious family, and would condemn to ostracism social a young innocent victim of the perversity of a bad man.  
Afternoon, Henry approached the servant he had been with that night before the incident.  
"Thank you very much for warning me, Sam! ... Thanks to that I saved my sister from the clutches of that damn bastard," said Henry.  
"I'm just sorry we did not get there before," replied Sam, the servant.  
"I hurt you? " Henry asked as he extended his arm as if to caress the servant's face, but stopped his hand near him.  
"No, it was just a small blow," Sam replied with a mocking and affectionate smile.  
Both men stared at each other for a few moments and Henry made a point to shorten the distance between them, but Henry's wife appeared running. She stared at her husband and the other man, suspiciously and angrily, while both men sketched gestures of surprise and shame. But the woman soon said what she had come to say.  
"Henry ... your father is going to kill your sister! ... Come soon!" exclaimed the young woman, very thin, with pale skin, dark curly hair, and more or less graceful face.  
Henry ran out and the woman shot a withering glance at the servant, who lowered his head, and then she rolled up her skirts and ran after her husband.  
In the library, the Marquess raised and lowered a leather belt that he held in one hand, mercilessly whipping his daughter who was kneeling on the floor, and covering her head with her arms, while hiding her face in an armchair , so the spanking fell on her back covered by the thin fabric of the nightgown, and her delicate skin already showed in red the marks of the blows.  
"Enough ... you're going to kill the girl!" the Marchioness screamed desperately, as she cried and stood between her daughter and her husband, but the Marquess gave her a whiplash that she received in the arm with which she covered her face, and then her husband pushed her violently and made her fall sitting on the floor, next to their daughter.  
"Damn dwarf cow! ... I should never have married you, and so this fool would not be my daughter ... but to blows, I will remove that nature of slut to her," shouted the Marquess and raised his arm to whip again his daughter, but the powerful hand of his son grabbed him and stopped him.  
"Did you go crazy! ... Do you plan to kill your daughter!" Henry yelled indignantly.  
"Get out or ...!" replied the Marquess.  
"You will have to kill me to keep hitting my sister, or you to dare raise your hand against my mother!" Henry exclaimed snatching the belt from his father.  
"I do not care! If the doctor says that she is a harlot, I will kill her anyway," replied the angry Marquess.  
"Doctor?... What doctor?" Henry asked confused.  
"I have summoned a doctor to certify if she continues to be a virgin," said the Marquess in a cold and intimidating voice.  
"I already told you that for what she told me the worst has not happened!" exclaimed the Marchioness, who, sitting on the floor, was hugging her daughter who had taken refuge in her lap sobbing.  
"It is nonsense, father!... It's making things worse!" Henry protested indignantly.  
"If the doctor certifies that she has lost her virtue, I will kill her or throw her out into the street like a street dog ... if he certifies that she is still a virgin, that she did not have time to consummate her indecency, then I will send her to Jamaica with my sister and she never will return to England," replied the Marquis.  
"Father ... I understand what you feel but that is not the way out! You are obfuscated and that is why you do not think clearly," tried to reason Henry.  
"And what else can we do? ... No man of good family will want to marry her! Not after the scandal is known all over England ... this stupid girl could marry some of the best suitors in England, now we should bribe some poor loser, some ruined relative of some aristocratic family, some bastard without money who is willing to marry her for a reward ... for my money! And anyway she would still be disgraced for the rest of her life ... She has been ruined herself ... The only solution is to exile her in a disgusting Caribbean island where the rest of her life will wither," said the Marquess embittered and full of pain.  
"No, Father ... there is still a salvation for her and for our reputation," Henry replied decisively.  
"What solution!" replied the Marquess.  
"I can get the Duke of Wyre to marry Jane," said Henry sure and cold.  
The Marchioness and Henry's wife (who was standing behind her mother-in-law) were speechless, Jane raised her head and turned to see her brother with red and bloated eyes from so much crying, with an expression of bewilderment as if she did not understand anything that happened around her. The Marquess was confused, but his fierce face expressed suspicion.  
"The Duke of Wyre? ... William? ... Are you making fun of my boy?" the Marquess asked clenching his right fist as if he wanted to hit his son.  
"No, father ... in these circumstances, I would not make fun of anyone. I mean my friend William, whom you know as well as a son," Henry replied with apparent calmness.  
"But you said that he had sworn he would not marry again after the tragedy ... that for nothing in the world he would marry again and that he would die alone, in his refuge in the North ... That man has lived almost like a hermit, many years that he did not visit London or anywhere in the South ... And you say you can make him marry Jane?" the Marquess asked incredulously.  
"I can get it," Henry insisted confidently.  
"Even if he finds out about your sister's dishonour? Because the news of what happened here sooner or later will reach the Noble Houses of the North of England and even of Scotland!" replied the Marquess.  
"Even if he finds out, he will," Henry said.  
"Silly stuff! ... You're lying to buy time," said the Marquess with scorn.  
"If I say I can do it, it's because I can do it! ... You know I do not promise what I can not do!" Henry exclaimed with vehemence, approaching a few steps to his father.  
"But I do not understand…!" exclaimed the Marquess confused.  
"You do not need to understand, you just need results! Is not the Duke of Wyre one of the richest men in the country? His fortune is at least four times bigger than yours, father ... his lineage is ancient and prestigious, is related to several English Kings and before what happened was very influential in the Court, in the Royal Family they have him in high esteem ... Can you imagine that a grandchild of yours is the heir of the title, the influence and above all the fortune? It would be the most beneficial marriage for our family in generations, perhaps throughout our history," Henry argued convincingly.  
The Marquess relaxed a little and went to a window, as he always did when he was thinking.  
"What do you prefer father? To exile Jane to a Caribbean island or see her become Duchess of Wyre, probably her procreating the future Duke, who would be your grandson ... think also of the businesses we could do thanks to that link. Your father, my grandfather, would have seen all his ambitions fulfilled if that happened and he would be proud of you," Henry said.  
"Certainly, it is a tempting offer, only to marry her with a King or a Prince would be better than this," said the Marquess almost in a whisper, talking to himself, "But I can not finish believing that William wants to marry ..." he added turning to see his son.  
"And what do you have to lose by trying? Let me try it, father, if you give me your consent, I will go right now to the North to propose it to William ... and you should not fear a rebuff from him, because it will be a secret management, you know that William and me are like brothers, in the worst case nobody will know of his rejection ... But if he accepts we will save our House from dishonour, we will shut mouths of people, and no one will dare to snub the new Duchess of Wyre and you, like her father," Henry replied in an almost authoritarian tone, similar to that of his father when he gave orders.  
The Marquess turned to see a few moments through the window and sighed ... Then turned to see his son with a determined look.  
"Okay! ... You have my permission ... you can speak in my name as the father of ... of that ungrateful dishonoured woman. I authorize you to propose to your friend William a marriage link with your sister. You can leave immediately ... if he accepts, it is even possible that I will forgive your sister one day, and we will forget what happened last night, even if it is difficult ... but if your friend refuses, your sister will be banished to Jamaica without any contemplation," said the Marquess in energetic and inclement tone.  
"All right, father. But if I get this, I will have proven my worth by saving this family from the most difficult trance in many years ... and I hope that is recognized in its proper measure," Henry replied with a firm gaze.  
"And what do you want in return? ... No, you do not need to say it ... You want me to give you control of the family's patrimony and support your modern business ideas ... Okay, in any case, you will be the head of the family within a few years, I do not think I have many more years of life ... I will delegate the management of everything to you, under my supervision of course, but I will let you implement your ideas ... but if you fail you must wait a few more years to take command," replied the Marquess.  
"Then we do not talk anymore, the cards are on the table ... I'll leave as soon as possible," Henry said without hesitation, "But I also have another condition, in my absence, I do not want you to mistreat Jane, you must leave her alone and not torment her, give me your word," he added seriously.  
"It's okay! As long as she does not speak to me and does not oblige me to see her frequently, I'll leave her alone ... I can not promise more," replied the Marquess angrily.  
"And forget about the doctor! ... No doctor is going to put his dirty hands on my sister to sully her certifying her virginity! Before, I will kill him ... she has already told our mother that she is still a virgin and I believe her, and in any case, the only one who has to care about that issue is her future husband, and I guarantee that there will be no problems," said Henry authoritarian.  
"It's okay! No doubt you will enjoy commanding when you have my title, boy ... I will order them to tell the doctor that his services are no longer needed and that they will pay his fees anyway, for the inconvenience caused ... something else?" replied the ironic Marquess.  
"No, it's enough ... I'll prepare myself to go north," said Henry.  
A couple of hours later, Henry went to his sister's bedroom to say goodbye to her, and she cried in pain before him, both standing. She was dressed in another nightgown and a robe over it, and Henry in proper riding clothes and high boots.  
"Little sister, listen to me ... I'm almost sure I can convince William, but if things go wrong, I'll send a message to Eleanor and she'll help you run away from home, to meet with people in whom I trust ... In any case, no I will allow our father to exile you, that he send you away from England, I promise," said Henry, affectionate and worried about her.  
"I'm afraid, Henry ... I'm very afraid. I do not know what's going to happen ... I'm afraid of Papa ... and I'm scared of that man ... I do not know him, I do not know anything about him, and what little I've heard makes me very scared," Jane replied crying and pouting like a little girl very scared, in a way that broke his brother's heart.  
"Listen to me well, Jane!" Henry said cupping his sister's face between his hands and looking into her eyes with intensity, with a look full of love and compassion, "William is a good man ... is perhaps the best man I've ever met in my life ... But he has suffered a lot and sometimes even the best men become hard when they suffer too much, but under that shell of hardness, there is a good and noble man ... If I did not believe it, I would not give my favourite sister, my little sister ... to a bad man and cruel that could hurt her ... He is not a monster, no matter what you hear, you must have faith in me and above all faith in him ... William can be your salvation, and maybe you can be his," added Henry with his voice broken by the emotion and the wet eyes.  
"But men are bad, Henry! ... After what happened I'm afraid of getting married ... I'm afraid of intimacy with a man," Jane said plaintively remembering the horrible way she was treated by Thomas, as he was close to rape her.  
"Jane, most men are not bad ... you just had the bad luck to meet a bastard ..." Henry said and his voice hardened with hatred when he referred to Thomas, "But William is different, he has never been cruel or wicked, and less with an innocent woman ..." saying this Henry's voice faltered a little and his face outlined a significant gesture that Jane did not notice, "But men are not bad, my little squirrel ... I am a man," he added with a sweet smile  
"But you are my brother, Henry!" said Jane making a pitiful pout, which in other circumstances would be funny but in those was very moving.  
"I think I have not been cruel to Eleanor!" Henry scoffed, referring to his wife, "My sweet girl, my little squirrel, do not worry ... your brother will take care of you ... and when you are Duchess, our sisters will die of envy, because their husbands cannot be compared to the one you will have, you'll see," he added very affectionate and mocking in the end.  
Jane threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly, sinking her face into his brother's chest. Henry caressed her like a small child or a delicate doll.  
"Forgive me, Henry! ... Forgive me! I have disappointed everyone, Mama, Papa, you ... I am a bad girl, a girl without decency or virtue, I have dishonour our family," said Jane crying inconsolably.  
"Don't say that, my little squirrel! My sweet girl, you are very innocent and pure, you are the best one in this family ... you were deceived by a damn bastard who will one day know my revenge," by saying this, Henry's voice hardened, "But you are still so sweet and innocent, William will be fortunate to possess you ... and after all, you are not the first or the last person to commit sin because of the desires of the heart ... or of the flesh," Henry added and his face was covered with infinite sadness, while a tear ran through his cheek  
A few minutes later Henry finished saying goodbye to his children, a 5-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. When the nanny took them, Henry said goodbye to his wife with a soft kiss on the lips.  
"Henry ... why do you have to take Sam with you and not another servant?" annoyed Eleanor asked.  
"Because Sam is the most efficient and the one that knows me better," Henry answered with annoyance while putting on the gloves he wore when riding.  
"But there are other servants, because ..." Eleanor replied.  
"Enough, Eleanor! A long trip ahead awaits me, a trip on which depends on my sister's life and the future of this family, our future ... I do not have time for nonsense," said Henry curtly.  
"It's okay! Do what you like, as always ... Have a good trip," said Eleanor and turned to walk inside the house.  
Henry left the house by the front door and descended the steps, while Sam waited for him with two stableboys and two strong and beautiful horses. At a signal from Henry, Sam mounted on one of the steeds, and Henry did on another, and they both began to ride slowly at first, at a trot.  
"Henry, sorry to ask you," said Sam turning to make sure that the stableboys were returning to the stables and could not hear how he spoke so familiarly with the young master, "Do you really think you can convince the Duke of Wyre to marry Lady Jane?"  
"I've known him since we were both children, and he's been the best friend I've had in my life," Henry answered and his face darkened sadly as he said the last words. "I'm almost sure I can get it, although perhaps I must resort to a weapon that I do not want to use ... something that is very painful for him and me, and that can even be a bit immoral ... and I fear that could endanger our friendship," added Henry and his face hardened, showing a little of his inner storm.  
Sam knew from Henry's face that he should not ask about what he planned to use to convince or force William to marry Jane.  
"We must ride without rest, stopping in the day just to eat and rest a little, and at night to sleep ... I want to get to William's house as soon as possible," said Henry with seriousness and urgency.  
Both began to ride faster and meanwhile Henry's mind travelled to the past, too painful memories ...

 _11 years before ..._  
Henry walked through the courtyard of William's country house, toward the house, after a brief visit to the stables. On the way he saw the employees who had participated in the search in the river, sitting under a leafy tree, their clothes still covered with mud and soaked, they exhausted, while they drank drinks and ate snacks brought to them by some maids. He saw the deplorable state of his own clothes and felt the deep fatigue accumulated during the previous terrible hours. He saw a young maid sitting on some steps, crying, while another maid caressed her head. Henry knew that this maid was especially responsible for the child's care, clothes and other needs and that she was very close to him. Suddenly he felt like breaking down again crying ...  
When he entered, he felt chills when he felt the gloomy atmosphere that had taken over a house that had once been a happy place, that silence full of tension and the semidarkness in which the residence was maintained. He walked a few steps and on his way the butler crossed, his face pale and emaciated.  
"Lord Henry ... His Grace insists on not allowing them to wash the ... the child's body and be dressed it to start the wake ... Maybe if you talk to him," said the butler in a voice broken by emotion, but trying to calm down.  
"I'll take care of it," Henry replied.  
When he reached the small room, he found William with his hands resting on the edge of the small table on which the body of his dead son was placed. Upon seeing the child's body, Henry felt his legs were missing and had to lean against a wall, while tears came out of his eyes. It felt like the first time he saw it. He also wanted the boy, who was his godson, and it broke his heart to see him dirty, covered in mud, with his body bruised and swollen, with his childish face so handsome and sweet now almost disfigured, to see him in way that William's men had finally found him at a point on the riverbank, a long way from where the current had dragged him.  
Henry saw William's face in profile, his eyes red from crying, and that expression of pain, of immeasurable pain. Henry was not yet a father, and although he also hurt a lot the death of the child, he could not imagine the pain of a father losing his son, and even worse in that cruel and horrible way. And Henry knew how William was attached to his son, and that was why he feared that this blow would lead him to insanity. The face of his friend had aged several years in one night and in his eyes, it could see the terrible darkness that had taken possession of his soul, that storm inside him ...  
"William, we must take care of ... Joseph ... They have to clean him and dress him ... it does not do you any good to retain in your memory this image of him ... we must remember him as he really was ... a very handsome boy" said Henry with a voice choked with tears.  
"Do you remember that when he was younger he loved to get dirty? He was always getting dirty, playing in the yard ... the maids ran behind him trying ... trying to get him back home, and to wash and change ... but he liked to go dirty, with his clothes covered in mud ... my little wild," William said in a hesitant voice, but without breaking because he had already cried a lot during those hours.  
"Oh God, William!" Henry exclaimed breaking into tears.  
"No, God is not here ... he was too busy to save the life of an innocent child ... Do you know why I have not let be taken away him? Because when they will wash him and dress him, and then they put him in an urn, and they take him to his grave, it will be the end ... when I leave here to leave him in the hands of those who are going to clean him for his funeral, everything will be over. My son will be gone, it will be a reality, it will not be a nightmare," William replied.  
"William, I'm so sorry, I ...!" said Henry.  
"Also, there's another reason ... seeing him like this, in this horrible way, I remember what they did to him ... I remember what his assassins did ... And I need that does not come out of my head," William said in a deadpan voice, but with the mien of his face full of rage.  
William bent down and kissed the forehead of his son, and whispered some unintelligible words. William and Henry were silent for a moment until the butler arrived.  
"Your Grace, the last group of servants returning from the forest is here ... they found your horse, 'Intrepid', " the butler said in a shy voice.  
The butler was referring to the beautiful black horse it had thrown William to the ground when he tried to force it into the river to help his son and then fled to the forest, where it was wandering until the servants found it.  
William stroked his son's hair and then he left the room violently, brusquely brushing aside Henry and the butler. Both puzzled followed him.  
William went to another room and came out of it with an object in his hand, and then went out the main door of the mansion. A stableboy, standing next to the animal, held the reins of the horse and there were two servants around. But when they saw their master approaching them with what he had in his hand, they left scared.  
William put the gun barrel on the steed's head and pulled the trigger. The roar of the shot echoed in the courtyard, the cloud of fire and smoke came out of the mouth of the cannon, a little rain of blood and brains came out of the beast, and the horse fell down to the ground, convulsing a few moments before dying.  
Henry, the butler, and the servants stared stunned William, but he made his way back to the mansion.  
"We have to bury Joseph fast ... then I'll go hunting his murderers," William said with a fierce expression on his face, and then went into the house.


	3. Oaths, Secrets, Wounds, Uncertainty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry confronts William in the most painful and difficult conversation of their old friendship on which Jane's salvation will depend ... or her condemnation?

The horses of Henry and Sam rode slowly, almost at a trot, as they reached the entrance to the Duke of Wyre's mansion, one day in the evening, after a few days of riding without hardly stopping. Sam noticed the emotion on Henry's face when he saw before him the imposing facade of the sumptuous residence.  
The house had two storeys and a basement, and on its front side, or facade had a central three-bay projection, with an attic storey and a pediment, and further projecting two-bay angle pavilions. These pavilions had broad Doric giant pilasters at the angles, at the outer angle coupled and with a kind of turret with some castellation. The central projection had giant angle pilasters too.  
When they reached the foot of perron that led to the entrance, Henry and Sam stopped the horses and stable boys approached them to receive the reins and take care of the horses. Another employee went up and went into the house to warn of the arrival of important visitors ... To continue reading this chapter, access this link (sorry for the inconvenience): https://www.patreon.com/posts/duchess-of-wyre-18787902


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